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Most service or family members flying into Germany will get a first impression of their new home upon approach to Frankfurt International airport. If you’re lucky and are sitting in a window seat, you might be welcomed by lush green countryside with the Main River meandering through fields and forests, and maybe even a vineyard scattered in between. Lucky ones may also catch a glimpse of Mainhattan, Frankfurt’s banking district, shortly before landing.
After a seemingly endless taxi to the terminal, a long line at immigration, scurrying to baggage claim amongst the hustle and bustle of one of Europe’s most busy airports, to then pass customs, you will finally be greeted by family, friends or sponsors. You made it – welcome to Frankfurt!
Now, relax and sit back! Imagine yourself landing at the same spot a century earlier, touching down on a dusty airfield amidst a vineyard on a Junkers F-13, the world’s first all-metal passenger monoplane, seating four.
David Levent, a senior first officer with German Condor Airlines, was already interested in aviation at a very early age. During a tour around Ramstein Air Base, the heavy aircraft, such as C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster, additionally inspired him to pursue a career in aviation. Based out of Frankfurt for flights worldwide, he would like to share his cockpit perspective on the exciting development of the airport from an airstrip to a bustling international hub. Join him on a turbulent “flight” throughout a century of aviation in Frankfurt!
Through the grapevine
After World War I, when aircraft became decisive game changers during the course of the war, civilian passenger and cargo flights also gained importance. In July 1924 the Südwestdeutsche Luftverkehrs AG Rebstock airfield was founded in Frankfurt. At the time it was merely a landing strip among vineyards, leading to its name “Rebstock” (grapevine). Beyond Rebstock’s grass strips, little Junkers twins and their mail-and-passenger schedules to Munich, Stuttgart and Cologne paved the way for what would become Germany’s busiest hub.
Zeppelins and a world airport
Just a decade later the grass fields at Rebstock were bursting at the seams. Frankfurt’s authorities broke ground south of the city for a purpose-built “Flug- und Luftschiffhafen Rhein-Main,” complete with a massive Zeppelinhalle. On July 8, 1936 the new airport officially opened—hailed as a “Weltflughafen” (world airport) —and Lufthansa inaugurated fixed-wing services with Ju 52 trimotors alongside the airship operations.
Construction kicked off in 1934 and by mid-1936 the Zeppelinfeld terminal stood ready to handle both Graf Zeppelin and her younger sister, the Hindenburg. Within months, regular Graf Zeppelin sailings to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Lakehurst, New Jersey began, tightly coordinated with Deutsche Lufthansa’s South Atlantic network. Graf Zeppelin maintained a schedule of roughly 13 crossings every two weeks from April to November 1936, carrying up to 50,000 letters per flight.
Tragically, after the Hindenburg disaster in 1937 the era of passenger airships in Frankfurt came to an abrupt end. The giant hall was soon repurposed for military use during World War II and turned over to the German Luftwaffe (air force).
Post-war changes and transformation
From 1945 to 1948 the airfield was rebuilt and under allied control. U.S. Army engineers transitioned it into a key transport hub. Rhein-Main Air Base, located on the south side of the airport, was established as Advanced Landing Ground Y-73 in April 1945. The base hosted fighter units, then post-war transport squadrons flying C-47s, C-46s and C-54s and became USAFE’s “Gateway to Europe.”
It also played a decisive role during the Berlin Airlift from June 1948 to September 1949. With access to West Berlin severed in June 1948, the U.S. Military Airlift command used nearby Rhein-Main Air Base as a primary staging point for C-54 and C-47 flights supplying food and coal to isolated Berliners. The operation flown by U.S., British and French forces underscored Frankfurt’s strategic value in Cold War logistics.
Second runway
As air travel picked up globally, Frankfurt soared into the Jet Age and 2.2 million passengers were recorded in 1960. Joint civilian and military usage of the runway became ever more challenging, so officials decided that it was high time for an additional runway.
The second runway, the parallel 07R/25L, was built between 1968 and 1972 and officially opened on Oct. 21, 1972. It measured 4,000 × 60 meters, allowing Frankfurt for the first time true simultaneous take-offs and landings on parallel tracks.
Frankfurt’s runway network was sequentially extended and widened (from 1.8 km strips in the 1950s to 3.6 km in the 1960s), accommodating ever-larger jets and rising traffic. But, as passenger numbers soared, this quickly called for yet another third runway.
Turbulence at Startbahn West
The fight over “Startbahn West” (runway west, officially 18 West) at Frankfurt Airport became one of the fiercest environmental and civil-rights clashes in post-war Germany. The roots of the conflict were that Frankfurt’s operator applied for a third runway as early as December 1965.
By 1979 the “Aktions-ge-mein-schaft gegen die Flug-hafen-er-wei-terung” had formed (soon renamed the Bürgerinitiative gegen die Flug-hafen-erwei-terung Rhein-Main), turning a technical approval process into a battleground for Germany’s emerging environmental movement.
Protests from environmental activists found support and momentum in the newly created “Greens Party” (still represented in German parliament today), and turmoil led to mass sit-in protests. When clearing began in 1980, activists erected a permanent “Hüttendorf” (hut village) in the woods to block tree-felling. Over the next year, squatters, local farmers and left-wing groups staged nightly demonstrations, sit-ins on the future runway site and street battles with police wielding truncheons, water-cannons and tear gas.
The peak mobilization was in November 1981 and after weeks of skirmishes, authorities forcibly evacuated the hut village on Nov. 2, 1981. Ten days later some 150,000 people rallied in Wiesbaden, and 220 000 signatures were delivered to the legislature demanding a halt to the project.
The opening of “Startbahn West” was under heavy guard on April 12, 1984, with Lufthansa’s Airbus “Lüneburg” becoming the first commercial departure from 18 West. There was no celebratory ceremony — Fraport opened the runway under massive police protection to avoid provocation. By then the costs of delay, security and compensation had ballooned to over 225 million Deutsche Marks.
Though organized mass protests waned by 1982, Sunday “Spaziergänge” (walks) continued at the runway fence. In 1987 two police officers were shot dead during one such demonstration, effectively ending large-scale resistance, but in the aftermath, this led to noise abatement measures still in effect. Today, 18 West handles roughly 30 percent of Frankfurt’s flights.
Noise Respite Periods
Since 2015 Frankfurt has had seven-hour noise breaks—combining curfew hours (11 p.m. – 6 a.m.) with “quiet” slots from 5 – 6 a.m. and 10 – 11 p.m. There are also specific landing and departure procedures, such as steeper glide slopes and since 2012 all runways support a 3.2° ILS/GBAS approach instead of the standard 3.0°. This extra 0.2° lets jets stay higher longer over Flörsheim, Frankfurt-Süd and Offenbach, cutting the low-altitude noise footprint. Departure procedures include Navigation Performance (RNP) flight paths, involving satellite-guided “radius-to-fix”, allowing aircraft to stick precisely to noise preferential corridors, steering them over industrial zones instead of homes.
Noise-related charges and runway rotations require airlines to pay surcharges for noisier jets, and utilize alternating departure runways to spread noise evenly, especially outside the core night curfew.
Construction never stops
Neither time nor flights have ever stood still and with increasing passenger numbers, Frankfurt’s Terminal 2 was completed and put into operation in 1994.
Frankfurt Airport’s dedicated long-distance (Fern-)train station next to Terminal 1 was completed in the spring of 1999 and officially went into service on May 30, 1999.
In the year 2001, the Flughafen Frankfurt/Main AG rebranded as FRAPORT AG (FRA for airport code + port). Since then it has grown into a global airport manager across four continents.
Frankfurt’s fourth, and most northern runway, was completed and went into operation in 2011. At a length of 2,800 meters it is only used for landings. Coming from Mainz drivers may spot smaller aircraft, such as an Airbus 330 or a Boeing 777, rolling over the autobahn on a bridge.
Rhein-Main Transition Program
Rhein-Main Air Base, the “Gateway to Europe” from 1945 occupied the southern apron of Frankfurt Airport as the primary Military Airlift Command (MAC) and United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) hub. Over six decades it hosted C-130 Hercules and C-9A Nightingale squadrons, plus transient C-5, C-141, C-17, KC-135 and KC-10 operations, moving troops, cargo and VIPs across Europe and beyond.
In December 1999 the U.S. and German governments signed the Rhein-Main Transition Program, agreeing to relocate key airlift capabilities to Ramstein and Spangdahlem Air Bases in exchange for returning the site to German control. The final USAF aircraft departed on Sep. 26, 2005, a formal hand-over ceremony marked the end of flying operations on Oct. 10, 2005. One of the distinguished guests at the ceremony was Colonel (R) Gail Halverson, the famous “raison bomber” pilot during the Berlin Airlift. Military control officially ceased on Dec. 30, 2005.
Ramstein Air Base was officially transformed into the “Gateway to Europe” and as a consequence, the second “Southern Runway” was officially opened for service on Jan. 1, 2007.
Future Plans
Fraport’s newest terminal, Terminal 3, is due to be opened prior to the summer season 2026, located on the former air base premises. It is expected to handle 19 million annual passengers across three piers. Amenities will include a 6,000 square meter marketplace, with 60 shops and eateries, general daylight via floor-to-ceiling glazing, play zones, work lounges and a panoramic apron view. Connectivity to the old terminals will be via an eight-minute people mover (Skyline), plus direct taxi, bus and car access. In addition, there will be 8,500 car parking slots and room for hundreds of bicycles.
After completion, Terminal 2 will undergo a complete renovation phase and upgrade, and re-open thereafter.
From the cockpit: We hope you enjoyed our “centennial flight” throughout the history of Frankfurt Airport, Europe’s third busiest (after London-Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle, Paris) and look forward to welcoming you at Frankfurt International again in the near future!
Happy landings wherever your travels may lead you!
For aviation fans (and colleagues):
Frankfurt Airport today boasts four paved runways — three nearly parallel east-west strips plus a fourth north-south runway — optimized for noise abatement and traffic flows. Landings generally use the two outer parallels (25R/07L “Northwest” and 25L/07R “South”), while the inner runways shift to takeoffs or crosswind operations. All four are available for common-use scheduling between airlines and general-aviation users.
1924/25: Estimated 10,000 – 20,000 passengers used Rebstock
1964: Frankfurt Airport handled roughly 3.5 million passengers
1994: Frankfurt/Rhein-Main Airport handled roughly 31 million passengers
2004: Fraport handled a total of 52,219,412 passengers
2024: 61,514,008 passengers were recorded
2024: 2.1 million metric tons of cargo were handled
2025, June: 5.6 million passengers traveled via Fraport
By 2030, Fraport is projected to handle up to 65 million passengers annually
On an average non-holiday weekday Frankfurt handles roughly 1,350 aircraft movements (take-offs + landings). That breaks down to about 675 departures and 675 arrivals each day, averaging every 60 to 90 seconds in 17 operational hours.
For more information, visit: https://www.frankfurt-airport.com/en.html
